Summary:

Lilamdevi Mestar; aged 50; resident of Chhapkaiya tole, ward no 3, of Amarpatti VDC; is a woman belonging to Dalit community. There is intra-Dalit discrimination among Dalit community in Terai region. Mostly Dom community were discriminated by other Dalitcommunity as well as non-Dalit community. The situation was totally different beforebecause people from Dalit community were not allowed to access public services, during ritual/ festivals.Dalit were expected to sit differently and participation in local level events was prohibited to Dalit community. Similarly, Lilam as well as other Dalit community were not allowed to extract water from hand pump before. Now, situation has been drastically changed after HR education campaign started in Chhapkaiya tole. The people are now afraid to discriminate in terms of their caste. They got to know that it is legal offence and one could be punishable by law if he/she commits that crime. She is amazed as well as happy to see this change in perception of community people. People started fetching water from public hand pump without any restriction from Non-Dalit community. Now, she can easily fetch water from public hand pump nearby her house. She doesn’t have to wait for Non-Dalit to extract water from pump.

Challenges:

The people form Dalit community have been deprived of accessing public water reservoirs from decades. They were afraid of getting boycotted from society and following same trend as of their forefathers. Perception of non-Dalit and societal differences has been pushing discriminatory culture forward. Still, Dom community of Terai region are not allowed to extract water from public water reservoirs either they have to wait for other Dalit to fetch water and pour to their vessel from distance. Lilam; a Dom community woman was facing similar situation in her community. She couldn’t speak against cultural bounds that have been created by non-Dalit community and following trend of community people.

Initiative:

Lilam as well as other Dalit community were not allowed to extract water from hand pump before. It was impossible for Dom community women to speak against cultural bounds that has been created by non-Dalit community; So, they were compelled to follow the trend of other people.

Now, situation has been drastically changing after HR education campaign started in Chhapkaiya tole. People are now afraid to discriminate in terms of their caste. They got to know that it is legal offence and one could be punishable by law if he/she commits that crime. People started fetching water from public hand pump without any restriction from Non-Dalit community. Now, she can easily fetch water from public hand pump nearby her house.

Results:

Now, Lilam as well as other Dom community people can fetch water from public hand pumps without any restriction. She is happy to be treated as other community people in her society. This change was possible due to sensitization created by HR education campaign that encourages community people for protecting human rights of all.